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Banned

Little Red Riding Hood was one of my favorite books when i was growing up and it taught me several different things at different ages in my life – But in America, some states have banned this book because of the littlest details that would surprise you. Little Red Riding Hood has refreshments in her basket for her grandmother, and one of those happens to be wine. Now i don’t know about you but i do not remember this little detail at all and did not even think about it ever until it was banned for that reason. To me, wine is a natural refreshment that is talked about even in the bible. Why would a book be banned that talks about wine when there are other books such as the bible that talk about wine?

I am also a firm believer that wine helps stabilize your mood and can be a great side with your dinner that has been proven to help your health (if drank sparingly). Of course there is the fact that too much of a good thing isn’t always a good thing. If you drink too much wine you will end up drunk and doing things you probably wouldn’t do all the time and having bad judgment. That is a decision that you make when you take that first glass of wine and drink it. This is why i am glad that wine bottles come in smaller quantities, because if i drank a few glasses, which is a typical wine bottle full, then i am feeling good. Any more than that and you would have to carry me to my bed. There are bigger wine bottles and that should be used for parties and such. In the end though, mothers do have the right to argue that having the wine in the story is not good for their children. But not everyone agrees with that and not everyone should agree to it unless they want to take every book containing wine in it off the shelves!

These parents that want to ban books, go beyond wanting restriction to certain books for their own children. They do this either by getting restricted access to the books or getting books removed from the library all together. While it is important that parents monitor exposure to books and media, it is not appropriate for the library to serve in loco parentis, making judgements for parents on what their children have or can’t have access to – rather than serving in their capacity as librarians. In the early 2000’s the Harry Potter books came under attack, giving way for the organization known as muggles for Harry Potter (which became known as KidSPEAK) to be the voice for kids fighting censorship. KidSPEAK fought for kid’s First Amendment rights.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Books are meant to enrich our lives, especially as children. If we keep banning books, what’s next, the internet?